08032019-btd-01.qxd 3/7/2019 10:50 PM Page 1 c m y b Bathinda TRIBUNE DOG STERILISATION PROJECT CONTINUES TO LINGER PAGE 2 Municipal Corporation of Bathinda’s sterilisation project for dogs seems to have been grounded. FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY INBRIEF 1,093 WHEAT BAGS STOLEN Barnala: Some persons allegedly stole 1,093 bags of wheat from a godown of government purchase agency, Punsup, on Wednesday night near Mehal Kalan. The police have registered a case and started investigation. As per information, four watchmen of the godown alleged that past midnight, some unidentified persons with faces covered entered the godown by scaling the outer wall. They allegedly threatened the watchmen with sharp-edged weapons, snatched their mobile phones and locked them in a room. They brought two trucks inside, loaded them with wheat bags and fled. The watchmen later called Punsup authorities. On Thursday, after checking their register, the authorities got to know that the accused hat stolen 1,093 bags of wheat. “The accused fled with 1,093 bags from Punsup godown. Though the exact number of accused is not confirmed, but we have registered a case against unidentified persons. We have started further investigation,” said Rahul Kaushal, SHO, Mehal Kalan police station. TNS FUEL PRICES PETROL ~72.11 DIESEL ~66.47 WHAT’S ON BATHINDA WOMEN'S DAY CELEBRATIONS: Women's Day celebrations by the BJP Mahila Morcha and SAD women’s wing at Jeet Palace at 1 pm INSPIRING TALES OF COURAGE AND DETERMINATION Celebrating International Women's Day, EPIC channel has created a riveting programme line-up. MAX 24°C | MIN 9°C | YESTERDAY MAX 24°C | MIN 9°C SUNSET FRIDAY 6:34 PM Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 7 The Municipal Corporation of Bathinda (MCB) has reduced the budget for maintenance of public parks for the fiscal year 2019-20 to Rs 1.25 crore as compared to Rs 2.15 crore kept in the last fiscal. Most parks in the city are in a pathetic condition and are crying for attention. Some of the parks, which are well maintained, are just because of the efforts put in by resident welfare associations on their own. Lack of funds and manpower to maintain them, roaming of unscrupulous elements and the practice of As per the Municipal Corporation record, there are around 140 parks in Bathinda. FILE PHOTO people to litter garbage are some of the reasons behind their pathetic condition. As per the MCB record, there are around 140 parks in the city, which are maintained by the civic body. Of them, resident welfare associ- ations are maintaining 40 parks in their areas. The major reason behind the pitiable condition of parks is the shortage of gardeners and poor maintenance allowance being given to resident welfare associations at the old rate of 50 paise per sq yard. Recently, the Municipal Corporation had hiked the park maintenance allowance from 50 paise to Rs 2.50 per sq yard. But even after getting this proposal approved in the General House meeting, the MC has not yet started giving money at this rate due to paucity of funds. A visit to various parks in the city showed that the fountains installed in these parks Faridkot, March 7 For an alleged bungling of more than Rs 30 lakh funds received by the Faridkot police during the Assembly elections in February 2017, the police have registered a case against a motor transport officer (MTO), a contingency clerk and four other persons. The case has been registered after an inquiry conducted by the police. The inquiry started after Gurwinder Singh of Sukhanwala village in Faridkot submitted a complaint to the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Fer- have been lying defunct for the past few years. As there is no staff provided to keep a check on the parks, some residents living close to these parks have encroached on land. In many parks, residents have removed the boundary grills from the rear side of their houses for a direct access to parks. Residents say a number of times they have complained about the condition of parks to the officials concerned, but to no avail. They say the parks are lying in a dilapidated condition owing to their poor maintenance. They also lack potable water and toilet facilities. Muktsar sheds its dirtiest city tag Archit Watts Tribune News Service Muktsar, March 7 From the dirtiest city as per the Swachh Survekshan-2017 to the cleanest as per Swachh Survekshan-2019, Muktsar town has covered a long journey in the past two years. In the recently declared list of Swachh Survekshan, Muktsar town has got the first rank in the state in the municipal council towns, although it has got overall third rank in Punjab. Bathinda has got overall first position, Patiala got second and Muktsar third in the state. This list includes municipal corporation and municipal council towns. Muktsar town had got 428th rank in the cleanliness survey in 2017, figured among the last 10 towns. However, now, the town has got 139th rank in the country. Muktsar Deputy Commissioner MK Aravind Kumar said, “It all became possible due to the support of local residents. We have also launched the Solid Liquid Resource Management (SLRM) project. Further, ‘My Muktsar, My Pride’ campaign was also launched in the town. Some people, along with our officials, carried out cleanliness drive on weekends.” The results of the cleanliness survey have residents happy, who are Continued on page 2 Credit for city’s top position ~85-cr road repair works under way in Barnala goes to SAD-BJP: Harsimrat Tribune News Service Bathinda, March 7 Union Minister for Food Processing Industries, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, on Thursday congratulated the Bathinda residents for bagging the top position in the Swachh Survekshan 2019 in Punjab. In a statement released here, the Union Minister said this was a direct result of the efficient solid waste management as well as public toilets installed in the city during the previous SAD-BJP regime. She said the city had set an example by securing first rank in the state and the 31st in the country among 4,241 cities with 3,520 points in the Swachh Survekshan-2019. Harsimrat Kaur Badal “The complete overhaul of the collection and transportation, processing, disposal of garbage has paid dividends,” she said, adding that a large number of toilets installed during the SADBJP tenure to make the city open defecation free had also helped Bathinda bag the top position in Punjab. Harsimrat said contracts were given for door-to-door garbage collection during the SAD-BJP tenure. “An awareness campaign was conducted to sensitise people to the need of segregating garbage and funds were arranged from the Centre under the Swachh Bharat Mission whenever the need arose.” Talking about the funds granted to the city under the Swachh Bharat Mission, the Union Minister said cleanliness became top priority for the people as well as administrators in the city, adding that 46 tippers were provided to make it a garbage-free city. — TNS One of the injured admitted to the Civil Hospital in Bathinda on Thursday. PHOTO: VIJAY KUMAR here. A group of 15 to 20 men with sharp-edged weapons barged into the house.” She alleged that the assailants attacked the family members and also fired gunshots. She claimed that her brother had been living at his Balraj Nagar residence for the past two decades and they had all legal documents to prove it. She also named the person who was leading the assailants. The doctors attending to the injured said they did not find any bullet injury mark on them. ASI Harbans Singh said the Waqf Board has 600 to 700 sq yard piece of land at Balraj Nagar, which was being claimed by Bhagwan Singh, the paternal uncle of Suba Singh. However, the rival group claimed that half of the land belonged to it, he added. According to him, they have detained a few persons and investigations are under way. He said they didn’t get any proof regarding the gunshots. — TNS Barnala, March 7 The repairs and upgrade of 691 km rural link and others roads at a cost Rs 85 crore is going on in Barnala. Authorities claim that they had taken required steps to accelerate work. Barnala Deputy Commissioner (DC) Tej Partap Singh Phoolka said around 478 km roads were being repaired and upgraded by the Public Works Department (PWD) and repair work of approximately 213 km roads was being carried out by the Punjab Mandi Board in the district. “In the first phase 2018-19, development works on 171 km roads have been done by the PWD out of total of 231 Minister lauds power bill waiver Bathinda, March 7 Punjab Power Minister Gurpreet Singh Kangar on Thursday said the decision of waiving past two years power bills of those belonging to economically weaker (SC & BPL) section of society was a great move. The minister thanked Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh for taking the pro-poor decision and termed it as yet another achievement of the Punjab Government in helping the poor. Earlier, power consumption up to 200 units was free for these families, but those who crossed the 200-mark were paying hefty amounts. — TNS Funds were received by Faridkot police during Assembly elections in February 2017 Tribune News Service FRIDAY | 8 MARCH 2019 | BATHINDA ~1.25 cr kept for public parks in 2019-20 as compared to ~2.15 cr in last fiscal Sukhmeet Bhasin PAGE 4 This year, both Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt have their hands full with professional commitments. SUNRISE SATURDAY 6:48 AM 6 booked for ~30 lakh bungling in police transport office Balwant Garg RANBIR AND ALIA TO SETTLE DOWN IN NYC MC slashes park upkeep budget Four injured in attack over property issue Bathinda, March 7 Four persons were injured after a group of armed men attacked them at their residence at Balraj Nagar with an alleged intent to grab their residential property. The injured have been identified as Suba Singh, his son Varinder Singh, cousin Gurvinder Singh and nephew Harpreet Singh. They were admitted to the Civil Hospital here. Talking to mediapersons, Suba Singh’s sister Sukhbir Kaur said, “I live at Kakhawali village and had come to the city this morning, along with my son Harpreet, who had to appear in his Class 12 exam PAGE 3 ozepur, on August 8, 2018. Gurwinder Singh had alleged that the police had hired as many as 145 vehicles (including a mini-bus owned by him) for transportation purpose for election-relating works. The police were to pay him Rs 300 per day as rent of the vehicle, along with dearness allowance. But he was not paid anything even after more than one and a half year, he added. An inquiry by the Faridkot police revealed that of total 145 private vehicles hired for transportation, only seven vehicle owners were paid. The inquiry found that one of the accused, Deepak Kumar of Mohalla Mahikhana, was paid Rs 22.62 lakh to distribute this rent amount further among the owner of 42 vehicles, but the amount was not disbursed. Similarly, Gurpreet Singh of Jhand Singh Wala and Daljinder Singh of Chet Singh Wala villages were paid Rs 13.40 lakh and 4.50 lakh, respectively, by the Police Department to distribute the amount among the vehicle owners, but it was not done. The inquiry officer said MTO Balwinder Singh deposited Rs 12.77 lakh in his own account. A case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against Balwinder Singh, MTO, Raj Kumar, contingency clerk in the Police Department, Deepak Kumar, Gurpreet Singh, Daljinder Singh and Gaurav Kataria, owner of a transport company. It is alleged that in cahoots with each other, the accused fabricated the bill books. The payment for purchasing 20 tyres was withdrawn from the state treasury, but no purchase was made. While there was a payment for 54,706 lt fuel, it is said that c m y b 46,099 lt fuel was filled in vehicles. There were 43 bogus vehicles and these vehicles were shown consuming 4,027 lt fuel, reads the inquiry report. The log book of 110 out of total 145 hired vehicles was kept blank. While most of these mini-buses have a seating capacity of 32 persons, but payment was made for 52 seats in these vehicles. Even some employees in the department were shown giving their personal vehicles (registered in the name of their family members) to the department on rent during the election. An under construction road in Barnala. TRIBUNE PHOTO km, which has to be completed at a cost of around Rs 22.27 crore. In the second phase, a target has been set for 217 km roads, which would be completed at cost of around Rs 20 crore. For the second phase, tendering process is in the final stage and development works would start soon,” the Deputy Commissioner said. He added that around 213 km roads were also being repaired by the Punjab Mandi Board in the district with an estimated cost of around Rs 20 crore. He said the Mandi Board had also planned to upgrade 24 grain markets, which would help in the smooth procurement of foodgrain. PWD officers said some roads were also being upgraded with the help of Central road funds. They said the PakhokeBhadaur-Bajakhana road would be upgraded to 10m wide road from the existing seven along with repair works of four-lane road within the limit of Bhadaur city. The current 5.50m wide road from Pakho Kalan to the railway crossing Tapa via Tajoke would also be upgraded to seven meters, along with repair work of four-lane road within Tapa city.

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